Pledged To Protect Complete Box Set: Three Romantic Suspense Romances

by Vella Day

  After what seemed like miles, the road forked. She stopped and listened for some sign of life—human life, that is. No lights peeked through any of the branches. Damn. It was as if both roads led to nowhere. But the officer had to live somewhere. Or had she mistaken which way he’d turned?

  Going back was not an option. As soon as the sun came up, Charley would be out looking for her. Tessa closed her eyes and prayed for guidance. As if an invisible hand guided her, she chose the road to the right.

  She hadn’t gone more than a hundred feet when a small echo filtered toward her. Was it her name? Oh God. The sun hadn’t risen yet. Charley couldn’t be after her so soon. The trees let in some moonlight and illuminated a footpath to the right.

  Dredging up all her reserve energy she sped down the new route, running as fast as she could. Branches and spider webs slapped her in the face while her feet slipped on the muck. She nearly fell again, but a nearby bush stopped her fall. She gulped down mouthfuls of air.

  “Tes-sa,” came a voice not far behind her.

  Oh, God. She stopped and looked around for a place to hide. Tangled vines blocked her way to the left and swampy water sat off to her right. She grabbed the knife tight in her hand and pushed onward, aware her pounding feet echoed in the darkness.

  “I can hear you,” Charley called.

  He was getting closer. Tessa rounded a bend and the path ended. Oh, God. Please help me. She stepped to the side and her foot sank into the earth, and cold water pooled around her ankle. She plucked it from the morass, sending out a loud sucking noise like that of a gunshot in the still night.

  She had to find a way out. Her breaths came in short puffs. Arms flaying, she stepped backwards, and her foot landed on a log. Finally, solid ground, or so she thought until she looked down and made out what appeared to a dock leading to a small lake. For a second she was tempted to jump in the water and swim away, but she had no idea how shallow it was or who lived in it.

  “There you are,” Charley said stepping from behind a tree. “Why did you run away?” He acted as if her leaving was a common occurrence. He didn’t seem angry. Could she hope he’d do her no harm?

  Tessa froze. “I, ah—”

  “Don’t be afraid. I want to take you away from here—to a nicer place.”

  Charley sounded insane. She assumed here meant someplace other than earth. “I like it here. I don’t want to go anywhere.” Especially with you. Tessa edged closer to the water. She gripped the knife behind her back.

  “This is my favorite place, you know. I built the dock myself,” he said waving his hand in the air. “I like to get away here. It’s so peaceful.”

  He clicked on a flashlight and pointed it at her face.

  She squinted and held up her hand to shield her eyes. “It’s, it’s very nice. You’re a talented man to be able to build a dock.”

  “Aren’t you cold?” he asked in a voice devoid of all emotion. “Look at your feet. Tsk, tsk. You don’t have any shoes. Wouldn’t you like to go back? The van is just down the road.”

  So that’s how he’d arrived so fast. Why hadn’t she’d heard the engine? Her heavy breathing, coupled with fear, probably blocked the sound. If only she’d succeeded in clawing her way through the swamp, she might have hidden until morning.

  “I’m fine. Please let me go. I haven’t done anything to you.” Her mouth turned dry.

  He pressed his hand to his chest as he advanced. “I don’t want to hurt you. I want to help you.”

  As he reached out to grab her, Tessa took a step toward him and thrust out her arm. The knife sank into his gut. Horrified, she let go of the blade and circled to his other side, closer to the road.

  Charley’s eyes widened, and he teetered toward the lake, grabbing the knife and pulling it out. He dropped the flashlight, and its ray shot out over the water, and then sunk into the murky lake.

  As if he realized what had happened, he lunged toward her, brandishing the knife. As Tessa turned to run, he grabbed her arm from behind.

  “Charley, let me go.” Tessa yanked her arm, but he held on tight.

  Grabbing her fist with her other free, but injured hand, she brought her arm forward, and then slammed her elbow back, connecting with his chest. Charley grunted. A hot, piercing blow to her back made her stumble forward.

  The next thing Tessa knew, she was free and Charley was yelping like a hurt dog. She turned. He’d fallen in the lake and was flaying his arms, trying to get up, his white face glowing against the black water. She stared as the apparition attempted to stand.

  A loud splash made her jump back, and the horrible sight paralyzed her. The tail of an alligator bobbed in the water. Charley windmilled his arms as he slid face down into the water. A second later, he surfaced and reached toward her.

  “Help me,” he cried. “Bruno will kill me.”

  Seeing a person in need catapulted her into action. As Tessa stepped forward and reached out to give him a hand, a searing pain in her back shocked her into reality.

  “I can’t, Charley. I can’t.”

  “Audrey, please help...”

  The alligator dragged Charley under the water. Horrified, Tessa watched as two other predators joined the foray and tore him apart. To see another human suffer sickened her, but she needed to flee. There was nothing she could do for him. And more of the alligator’s friends might come after her.

  Charley was a big bull of a man. He might be able to wrestle the alligator, she rationalized. Water splashed, and the full moon caught the scene in black and white. The noise stopped and the ripples diminished.

  She had to move—only she couldn't.

  After a full minute, reality sunk in. Charley was gone, but the backs of the alligators remained shimmering above the surface.

  She pivoted and raced along the path, praying the monster beasts wouldn’t come after her.

  Tessa’s breath came in rapid succession as she raced away from the scene. The turn off to the road shouldn’t be far ahead. Damn, her bad sense of direction had completely turned her around.

  The dark sky was turning a paler shade of gray signaling day would soon be upon her. Her feet were no doubt bleeding as was her back, but she couldn’t take the time to do anything about them.

  The cold, damp air had chilled her to the bone, and blood was trickling below her shoulder blade and pooling along her waist. She ran a hand along her waistline and contacted the sticky goo. Her stomach clenched. Numbness raced down her arm on the side of the injury. She tried to lift her hand, but her muscles refused to cooperate. Fear at her potentially paralyzed arm shook her.

  She needed to get help. Fast. If she could just find the van, she could drive to a hospital and be warm and safe.

  Keep going, Tessa. The turn off can’t be far off.

  Through the thick swampy brush, she thought she could make out a light colored van. She was almost there. She could make it.

  One moment she was focused on the van, the next her foot landed in a deep, watery hole.

  “Ow,” she screeched.

  Her momentum catapulted her forward, and a second later she landed on her face into cold water. An unbearable pain speared her ankle and shook her knee.

  “Damn it to hell. Shit, shit, shit. It hurts.” Tessa didn’t care if the world could hear her. No one seemed to be within a hundred miles away, anyway. The pain swallowed her up.

  Tessa pushed up from the ground, but with her right arm limp, she only managed to roll over. Panting heavily, she gritted her teeth and sat up. Her butt sat in waist deep water and her foot was stuck in the mud.

  Drenched, in pain, and terribly cold, Tessa grabbed her knee to free her foot. The tugging motion sent nail-like spikes through her ankle and caused her back to scream in protest. She stopped to catch her breath. When the wave of nausea passed, Tessa tugged again, this time succeeding in retrieving her foot from the earth’s muddy grip.

  “It hurts, it hurts,” she moaned. Tessa wanted to touch the ankle to test the sever
ity of her injury, but she didn’t want to cause any more pain.

  Exhausted, she rolled to her side, and crawled out of her wet hole, keeping her ankle above the ground. She clenched her jaw to stop from crying.

  Her body screamed for rest, but she had enough sanity left to understand she couldn’t lie on the damp ground forever. She’d die if she didn’t move.

  Her ankle was broken if the loud snapping sound was any indication. “Damn, damn, double damn. Dominic where are you?”

  How ironic. She was finally free from Ralph and Charley, and she was going to die not by their hands, but by nature. No one would find her for days. Her body would rot out here before another human came along.

  The gruesome image helped prod her to her feet. It took her three tries to gain enough balance to stand on one foot. Tessa looked around in the dim light of dawn for something to act as a crutch.

  Cypress knees protruded upward from the stagnant pools of water and gnarled branches twined together to form a curtain of wood, but no long straight stick was laying around for her to use.

  Tessa let out an audible sigh and dropped down to the ground once more. Frustrated at the hopeless situation, her emotions erupted, and incredible self-pity overwhelmed her. Tessa sobbed and sobbed, so hard in fact, the tears clogged her breathing. She didn’t care. Crying felt good.

  Tessa cried for her ill brother, cried for her dead father, and cried for never telling Dominic how much he’d come to mean to her.

  When no more tears fell, she looked around. More light edged over the horizon. As if someone had dropped a gift from heaven above, a stick, with a v-shaped top, rested against a log not three feet from her. How could she have missed it? She didn’t believe in fairy godmothers, but after the sudden appearance of this aid, she might have to reassess her opinion of the heavenly spirits.

  With much effort, Tessa stood and held her foot held above the ground. Taking care not to stumble, she hopped toward her new-found cane. Each jump sent agonizing pain up her leg, but Tessa clamped down on her jaw and kept on moving until she reached the wonderful stick.

  She tested its strength. Not yet rotted, it gave her the needed support. The top of the stick came to her underarm. Perfect. But its sharp edge poked her to a point where the stick was unusable. Think, Tessa, think. She needed a cushion. Her dripping wet sweatshirt would do more harm on, so off it came.

  Standing on one foot, she wrapped the garment around the top of the stick. Renewed by her ingenuity, Tessa took another step, then another until the path came to an end.

  A river of sweat poured down her face and stung her eyes, forcing her to stop to catch her breath. Birds chirped, signaling morning was near.

  Tessa took in her surroundings. Tall pines, scum filled pools of water, and briars bordered her. Where had her path gone? She should be able to see the road by now. She couldn’t have wandered that far away from the path.

  Refusing to let her injuries defeat her, Tessa turned around. She needed to retrace her steps, only this time she’d make sure to watch for the path to the road.

  The effort to hop on her right foot, and then lean on the crutch, used a great deal of energy. She’d never make it out of this quagmire in her condition. Her ankle continued to throb whether she moved or stood still, and the blood on her back from the stabbing had mercifully caked. Her right arm lay useless at her side. Her left underarm was beginning to get sore, which would make her journey that much more difficult, but with no other choice, she moved on.

  The humidity rose as dawn unfolded. Dragonflies and gnats must have decided she’d be a good breakfast choice and buzzed her face like kids around an ice cream truck. She let them attack, not having the energy to swat the pesky critters away.

  So focused on her trek, she heard nothing until a mirage appeared before her. It had to be her imagination, because the image looked like Ralph, and he was dead.

  “Hello, Tessa,” the watery image said. “Looks like you’ve had a little accident.”

  His voice sounded real enough, but she didn’t trust her mind. She blinked to clear her sight. “I know you’re not really here.”

  The apparition laughed. “Oh, I’m real all right. Did you think the little knock on the head would kill me? Come on. I’m too thick skulled for that. You of all people should know that.”

  Every nerve ending exploded. “You’re alive?”

  “Very much so, but you won’t be for long. I blacked out for only a few minutes. When I came to, I saw you and that giant struggle on the way to the kitchen. I figured it was in my best interest to play dead.” He smiled, but there was no pleasure on his face.

  Ralph closed the gap between them in three long steps and grabbed both her arms. The sharp ache convinced her this was no ghost. Her ankle screamed in protest as he yanked her toward him. Her stomach cramped, as her breath whooshed out of her lungs.

  “It can’t be,” she said, desperate for reality to take another form.

  “Trust me, I’m real. And you’re about to feel every inch of how real I am.”

  21

  This place better deliver. None of the other places the officer marked has given us squat,” Phil said.

  “Stop here,” Dom whispered, pointing to a trailer set deep in the woods whose dim light flickered from inside. “I don’t want him to hear us approach.”

  Phil parked and they both jumped out. Guns drawn, they skulked toward the dilapidated metal box.

  “There’s a light inside,” Phil said, excitement lacing his voice.

  “Yeah.” Dom pressed his finger to his lips indicating from here on out only hand signals would be used. Phil nodded.

  The swamp smelled of stale water and mildew. How could anyone live out here?

  Dom motioned for Phil to go around back, while he’d enter by the front. Once Phil disappeared, Dom raced to the front, mud splattering his shoes. He pounded on the front door.

  “Open up. Police.”

  He wanted to bust down the door and rush in, but he didn’t have a warrant. Please let Tessa be inside.

  No sounds came from within. Dom tested the door, and found it to be unlocked. He pushed it open and barged in, gun drawn.

  “Police,” he shouted.

  Silence.

  The door to the bedroom sat open. Dom checked inside the tiny room. Rumpled sheets covered both sides of the double bed. It looked as if two people had slept here. Damn, he and Phil must have the wrong place.

  He stalked to the back of the trailer and knocked on the window motioning Phil to come inside.

  “Find anything?” Phil asked as he stepped over the threshold.

  “Squat.” He stabbed a hand over his head.

  “Maybe our kidnapper doesn’t live here,” Phil said in his usual voice-of-reason tone.

  The adrenaline rushed out of Dom’s system like a deflated balloon. He sat down on the edge of the sofa and dropped his head in his hands. He had to find Tessa, but he didn’t know where else to look. She had to be alive. He hadn’t fought hard enough to keep his brother at his side all those years ago and the continual guilt nearly destroyed him. He wouldn’t let the same thing happen to Tessa.

  “Come on,” Phil prompted. “Whoever lives here doesn’t need to see us when he comes back.”

  Dom took one last look around. The setting bothered him. The twenty some odd melted candles implied a romantic setting. But where was the woman? Had she fled at five in the morning too? Officer Federer had marked this place with a star. He claimed an old man lived alone. Always had. Something wasn’t right.

  He stepped over to the mantel and found a picture of a smiling woman and a small child. Could it be the old man’s daughter? Tilting the photo toward the lantern, he was surprised at how closely the woman resembled Tessa, and a creepy feeling crawled up his spine.

  Dom set the photo down and glanced to the sink. It was clean. The counters were even wiped down. It sure as hell didn't look like an old fart lived here. Dom was tempted to search the closet for confirmati
on.

  “Someone left in a hurry,” Dom announced. “You don’t leave a propane lamp on and front door unlocked out here.”

  “Maybe he was afraid the animals might steal something.”

  “Funny.”

  “Look, we aren’t going to find answers sitting on our asses.”

  “You’re right,” Dom said.

  As he stood, Dom stopped short. A ring sat on the table next to the sofa. “Phil, wait.” He lifted up the dull piece of jewelry and twisted it around. “It’s Tessa’s.”

  Phil rushed next to him. “You sure?”

  “Sure, I’m sure. It was the same one Ralph took from her place and left at my house.” His heart pounded in his chest. “She said her mother gave it to her when Tessa was a kid. Look outside again for signs of her. I’ll check more thoroughly in here.” The adrenaline renewed the spring in his step.

  The search took all of two minutes. There weren’t any places to hide other than the bedroom closet. No women’s clothes were anywhere. But Tessa had been here. The ring proved it.

  Dom rushed outside and yelled to Phil, “Let’s go.”

  Phil joined him at the car. “No sign of any digging or anything out back.”

  “Good.” At least he hadn’t killed Tessa and buried her on the property.

  Phil took off down the dirt road. The suspension system was no match against the potholes.

  “Jesus Christ. Don’t kill us,” Dom said.

  Phil slowed as the road narrowed. Ten minutes later the road forked. “Now what?” Phil asked.

  “Try calling the officer.”

  Phil punched in the number Federer had given him. He shrugged and left a message for him to call back. “I wonder where he is.”

  “Asleep like we should be. Only time is running out for Tessa.”

  “I’m with ya.”

  “Okay, turn right,” Dom said pointed down a road narrower than the one they were on.